LAS VEGAS, Nev. – “The future of medical care is extending beyond hospital.”

Robert Ford, chairman and CEO of Abbott, said so in his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022 in Las Vegas, Nev., on Thursday (WST).

Ford, the first healthcare industry leader to present a keynote at the most influential tech event worldwide, revealed that the company is developing a new consumer bio-wearable product called “Lingo.” According to Abbott, Lingo is a wearable device that measures various biomarkers, such as glucose, ketones, and lactate, to help people manage their health but is not a medical device.

The Abbott CEO prepared his keynote speech stage along with nine experts and celebrities to emphasize changes in the medical environment facilitated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the digital healthcare technology development while explaining his company's role in it.

Appearing on his stage were actress and comedian Sherri Shepard, marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, and Tyrone Morris, who could receive heart transplant after waiting nine years mounting CardioMEMS HF, a wireless pulmonary artery pressure monitoring system of Abbott.

“Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of health and the value of technology more strongly,” CEO Ford said. “We will be able to manage health in advance and detect diseases in early stages in the future.”

Stressing that technology gives people the power to digitize, decentralize and democratize healthcare and put more control of their health in their hands, Ford said, “We are creating a future that will bring you and your loved ones care that’s more personal and precise. It’s happening right now. And its potential is no less than incredible.”

Ford went on to say, “The healthcare system can sometimes be threatening. And the aggravating pace of health inequity is astonishing. We are trying to solve these problems by, for instance, popularizing the FreeStyleLibre, the lowest-priced and most widely used blood sugar monitoring device worldwide. Consumers can handily use it.”

The FreeStyleLibre measures blood glucose level without gathering blood, and FreeStyleLibre 3 received the Best of Innovation Award at CES 2022. FreeStyleLibre 3 is a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system that can be worn for up to 14 days, using the smallest and thinnest blood sugar sensor worldwide.

“Next-generation technologies are less invasive, more mobile, and more closely interconnected,” Ford said. “The future of medical care is extending beyond hospitals.” He cited as an example Neurosphere Virtual Clinic (NVC), remote neuromodulatory treatment technology developed by Abbott for the first time in the U.S. NVC remotely treats people with motor disturbance, including Parkinson’s disease and hereditary tremor. It made a market debut in March last year after winning approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“A method to reduce medical care’s uncertainty is testing. Up to 70 percent of medical decisions also result from tests,” CEO Ford said. “We should decentralize tests and conduct proper tests at appropriate moments. Quick tests can provide peace of mind and an execution plan.”

Stressing that simple tests will be distributed to homes and families can conduct counseling with doctors based on their results, Ford cited as an example BinaxNOW COVID-19 self-test kits, which the company distributed for free at the CES 2022.

“We can have the power to collect data using health tech and grasp and manage health real-time using it,” Professor Leslie Saxon of the University of Southern California also said. “Healthcare providers also can focus their time on patients. Lifecare, not healthcare, should be the norm.”

He went on to say, “It should take the on-demand form anytime and anywhere, not limited to clinics. The on-demand form refers to the system or strategy in which demand, not supply, determines everything.

Meanwhile, Abbott received five Innovation Awards at the CES 2022. Aside from FreeStyleLibre 3 that won the Best of Innovation Award, they are Ultreon 1.0 Software, an artificial intelligence-based imaging software; I-STAT TBI Plasma, a portal brain injury test; Libre Sense, the world’s first glucose monitoring biosensor; and BinaxNOW COVID-19 test kits; and NAVICA App.